Arizona weekly enterprise., 1887-08-13
VARIETIES OF 16NDsHAklNe.
How the Custom First Originated-Pecu-
 Iiarities of Different People.

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 How the Custom First Originated-Pecu-
 Iiarities of Different People.
 'Did you ever consider how people first began to shake hands? No? We'll, then, sit down here and I'll tell you what I think about it, for I have given this subject some study" said a gentleman to a reporter. ''My opinion is that in early and barbarous times, when every savage or semi savage was his own law giver, judge, soldier and policeman, and had to watch over his own safety, in de- fault of all other protection, when two friends or acquaintances, or two stran- gers desiring to be friends or acquaint- ances, when they chanced to meet, of fered each to the other the right hand alike of offense and defense-the hand that yields the sword, the dagger, the club, the tomahawk or other weapon of war. Each did this to show that the hand was empty and that neither war nor treachery was intended. A man cannot well stab another while he is en- gagged in the act of shaking hands with him; unless he be double dyed traitor and villain and strives to aim cow ardly blow with the left while giving the right and pretending to be on good terms with him.
 Ibid you ever observe that the ladies never shake hands with the cordiality of men unless it be with each other2 The reason is obvious. It is for them to re- ceive homage, not to give it. They can- not be expected to show to persons of the other sex a warmth of greeting which might be misinterpreted unless such per sons are very closely related, in which cases handshaking is not needed and the lips do more agreeable duty.
 "Every man shakes hands according to his nature, whether it be timid or aggres- sive, proud or humble, courteous or churlish, vulgar or refined. There is cer- tainly great art in handshaking, but tell you the kind of handshake l hate, and that is one of the what I call the jolly good fellow handshakes. One of those fellows will grasp your hand, squeeze it until the tears run down your cheeks and then, using your arm in the same manner as pump handle, will go on shaking all the time he is talking to you, letting it rest easy for moment or so, with the exception of little spas modic shake now and again, only, how ever, to start in afresh. The first time you imagine he is doing it because he is extremely glad to see you, but when you see him manifest the same cordiahty to- ward people whom he met for the first time yesterday and toward those with whom he has been intimate for years you know he is humbug or is, at any rate, acting from habit. But of all the men to be avoided the man who squeezes your hand in an excruciating manner on false pretense is the worst. He dislocates your joints to convince you that he re- gards you highly, and as soon as you are out of sight forgets you or thinks 1 that you are no great shakes after all 1 or, worse stin, abuses you b-i.il.d your back.
 "Another and even more odious kind of handshaker is he who offers you his hand, but will not permit you to get fair | hold of it. To be treated with cool con tempt of supercilious scorn which such a mode of salutation implies is worse than not to be saluted at all. If hands are to De shaken let it be done properly. An | other species of handshaker detest is the man who offers you one finger instead of five, as much as to say, I am either too preoccupied myself or think too little of you to give you my whole hand. With such man the interchange of any but the barest and scantiest courtesy is rendered difficult by any one who has ! particle of self respect.
 ''Yet another objectionable man is tht one that shoves out his left hand in greet ing you. That is discourteous, sometime' intentional and sometimes not, but it i
 an act that no true gentleman woulC
 commit. There is really no reason why
 it should be more discourteous than ts
 kiss the left cheek instead of the right
 but doubtless the custom that makes tn
 right hand imperative in all sincere salu
 tations dates from those early times whel
 handshaking first began, and the 'hanC
 that shook or was shaken in friend
 ship was of necessity weaponless. Tn
 poor left hand that one would thinl
 ought to be of as much value and strengti
 as the right, just as the left foot or leg as strong as the right foot or leg, becaus they are both used equally, has fallel
 into disrepute as well as into comparativ disuse, until it has become an accepte phrase to say of any proceedings that inauspicious, artful, sly or secretly mali | OlOuo, 1b ID ok144StC4 ~S14de II ID 4CA handed.
 '1 do not" he continued, ''object t shake hands on certain occasions. but , is this perpetual shake, shake wit everybody that object to. It is pleasan
 to touch the hand of an honest man c , woman, and to be on such terms of ac quaintanceship with either of these mas terpieces of creation as to justify you i , the thought that you are their equal 2 Even to grasp the paw of an intelliger
 dog, who holds it up for you to shake o being asked to do so, is something ples , sant. For the dog, unlike some mer : would scorn to give his paw to one i
 whose eye and in whose face he, by h I fine instinct, in'some respects the equal I not the superior of reason, discovere f treachery or evil. As I have said, it
 the continued hand shaking with Ton a Dick and Harry that ought to be put I stop to.-Chicago News.
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